Fort Morgan (21 page)

Bruno moved to sit in the chair next to
Ivan’s. Ivan scooted over to give the big man some room.

“
The boss — he’s taking
care of this as we speak,” Bruno said with a nod. “I asked the boss
if he wanted me to take care of it. Given that we were in the gulag
together and everything, he insisted I come here to be with
you.”

“
Saint Petersburg,” Ivan
said. “I remember you and the boss from the Bolshoi.”

Bruno nodded.

“
I don’t remember much
about the gulag,” Ivan said.

“
You remember your friend
Bruno keeping the violence away from the pretty
danceur
,” Bruno said.

“
You’ve been a good friend
to me.” Ivan nodded, but he didn’t look at him.

“
She saved you from that,”
Bruno said with a nod to Sissy.

As if he’d never thought of it before, Ivan
raised his eyebrows. He gave a slight nod and went back to staring
at Sissy.

“
She’s not a baby
anymore,” Bruno said.

Ivan didn’t look at him.

“
She’ll be a ballerina
soon,” Bruno said.

“
If she survives,” Ivan
said.

“
Will she bring bad luck?”
Bruno asked.

“
No idea.” Ivan gave a sad
shake of his head.

Ivan leaned forward to take Sissy’s hand
again. Her hand was ice cold. As he had when she was a child, he
rubbed her hand between his to warm it.

“
You know I have a wife
now,” Bruno said.

“
I heard,” Ivan said.
“Congratulations.”

“
She turned thirty this
year,” Bruno chuckled. “Ukrainian, but Slavic, of
course.”

“
Of course.” Ivan said to
acknowledge that no Bratva would marry outside of the Slavic
race.

“
We are more than forty
years apart in age, but it doesn’t matter,” Bruno said. “We are
very happy. I treat her like a princess, and she makes me feel like
a real, genuine man. You and I go back so far and have been through
so much, that I’ll tell you what I haven’t told anyone, not even
the boss.”

Ivan looked up at the man.

“
She’s pregnant,” Bruno
said. “After all of this life and death and gulag and my entire
life with the boss, I will be a daddy. Me!”

“
Congratulations,” Ivan
said, and Bruno smiled.

“
Very happy,” Bruno said.
“She is, too.”

Ivan couldn’t help but smile at the man.
Each lost in his own thoughts, they fell silent.

“
Four years,” Bruno
said.

“
What?” Ivan
asked.

“
She will be an adult in
four years,” Bruno said and nodded.

“
And what does that mean?”
Ivan asked.

“
You can be together,”
Bruno said. “You can love her, and she can love you — like the
Oracle told you.”

As if he had no idea what Bruno was saying,
Ivan gave a slight shake of his head.

“
The boss said to tell you
to stop being stupid,” Bruno said. “But I come here and see that
you’re not being stupid.”

“
I’m not?” Ivan
asked.

“
You’re just being
patient,” Bruno said.

“
Because I’m well known
for being patient,” Ivan snorted.

“
Boss said to tell you
that this man who caused your love to be shot, he is the same man
who profited on your sister,” Bruno said. “Same man who made you
spy. Same man who put you in gulag.”

Ivan felt his heart constrict with hatred
and rage.

“
Boss said it’s all over,”
Bruno said. “Boss finishes it tonight.”

“
Why would the boss end
this?” Ivan asked. “His own son!”

“
Last of sons,” Bruno
said. “Evil, every one. It will end tonight. I wanted to do it
myself, but the boss insisted on doing it himself. His son, his
responsibility. You know what they did to Anjelika?”

Ivan nodded.

“
The boss finishes it
tonight,” Bruno said.

He gave Ivan a chilling smile, and Ivan gave
a slow shake of his head.

“
You can go,” Bruno said.
“I will watch and keep guard.”

“
I’m not leaving her,”
Ivan said.

“
Good,” Bruno nodded. “We
will watch together.”

Ivan looked at the man for a moment before
turning back to Sissy. When he looked back, the curtain was moving,
and Bruno was gone. He fell asleep wondering if the entire
interaction had been a dream.

~~~~~~~~

Olympia

Tanesha swallowed hard and glanced at Fin.
They were standing at one end of a large, oval room. Every surface
shone brighter than gold. The floor was made up of white, puffy
clouds on a baby-blue sky. At the front of the room, there were two
seats with a man she knew to be Zeus, and the woman Heather had
called “Hera.” A host of about a hundred beings were seated around
the oval in what could only be described as stadium seating. Near
the front of the room, there were twenty or so human forms standing
on either side of Hera and Zeus. The court wore golden fabric.

“
Where are we?” Tanesha
whispered.

“
Olympia,” Fin
said.

“
Is it a real place?”
Tanesha asked.

Fin gave her a cocky grin and held out his
arm. She placed her arm over his, and they took a slow step
forward. They moved with slow, even grace across the clouds. The
room got wider as they moved. People in the stadium seats stood as
they passed. Fin nodded in “hello” to creatures on either side.

“
What are they?” Tanesha
whispered.

“
Gods,” Fin said. “We are
in Olympia.”

Tanesha peeked out the sides of her eyes at
the magnificent creatures. When they saw her, they turned to
whisper to the creature next to them. As they approached the
throne, the beings in the stadium seats began to look more like
human beings.

“
Curtsy when I bow,” Fin
said out of the side of his mouth.

“
Prince Finegal!” Zeus
said. His voice echoed in a sharp bellow. “Princess
Tanesha.”

Fin bowed. Tanesha gave a deep curtsy.

“
How?” Fin asked under his
breath.

“
Sissy had to learn when
she was ten,” Tanesha said. “We practiced for a month.”

She felt her heart constrict with worry for
Sissy. She felt movement near her. She saw that Heather, dressed in
golden finery, had moved into the crowd near the throne. Tanesha
threw her a bright smile. Heather didn’t respond.

“
What’s wrong with her?”
Tanesha whispered.

Fin guided her to face their right. He
bowed, and Tanesha curtsied.

“
She is still alive in
Denver,” Fin said. “Barely.”

Tanesha swallowed hard. He guided her to the
opposite side of the court. He bowed, and she curtsied. He led her
around to face the throne.

“
Why are you here,
friend?” Zeus asked.

“
We’ve come to ask a
favor,” Fin said.

“
After all you have done
for us, Prince Finegal, what favor could Olympia do for you and
your kind?” Zeus asked.

“
We ask for Hedone to be
returned to Earth to finish out a long human life,” Fin
said.

“
You have asked for
something you cannot have,” Zeus said.

“
I ask that the matter be
brought to vote in the full court,” Fin said.

“
It will make no
difference,” Zeus said. “Hedone was given one human life by a Titan
to live as she sees fit. She has lived that life. She will now
return to her duties in Olympia.”

“
And if the Titan Perses
was to agree to Hedone returning to live out her human life?” Fin
asked.

“
I. . .” Zeus
blustered and the court crowd began to whisper to each other. “I
would need to hear it from himself.”

Fin gave a partial bow.

“
Perses?” Fin
asked.

Jill’s father appeared beside Tanesha.

“
Great Perses,” Fin said,
“would you allow Hedone to live out her life on Earth before
returning to her duties?”

“
Her life is not over,”
Perses said. “My wife is at the hospital right now. She is alive!
Her life is not over! I would allow Hedone to return to her life. I
ask great Zeus to honor my agreement, release her spirit, and allow
Hedone to live out her life on Earth.”

“
No!
” Zeus bellowed. The words echoed around the room and
silenced the whispering crowd. “I say Hedone returns! I am Zeus. My
word is law!”

The
Lady in White

Saturday early morning — 3:21 a.m.

New York City, New York

Sissy was sitting on the side of her
hospital bed.

She had no idea how she came to be sitting
there. She simply found herself sitting there. Her body —and all
the tubes and wires — filled most of the bed. This was the only
empty spot on the bed.

Ivan was asleep in a chair. His hands were
tucked under his armpits like he was cold. In the dim ICU light, he
looked almost too beautiful. She smiled at Ivan. He had always been
such a good friend to her.

Sissy scowled. She was
surprised at the thought:
Ivan has always
been such a good friend to me
. It was
almost as if her friendship with Ivan was over. Why would she think
such a thing? Ivan had been in her life nearly all of her life.
Even when she wasn’t taking lessons from him, he still lived in her
heart.

Shaking her head at her weird mind, she
noticed Otis’s ex-bodyguard, Bruno. He was sitting in a chair near
the end of her bed. He wasn’t quite asleep, but he wasn’t awake
either. Every once in a while, he shook himself awake and looked
around. His face bore such unadulterated threat and violence that
Sissy looked down so he wouldn’t look at her that way.

With a sigh, she kicked her legs back and
forth on the bed. She was waiting for her father. Charlie had spent
a bunch of time with her father when he was injured. Sissy hoped
that if she remained right here, Mitch would appear.

She’d been waiting a long time.

When she looked up again, she noticed a
woman standing just inside the curtains around her bed. The woman
had white porcelain skin and white hair. She wore a white dress
that was part Marilyn Monroe and part Helen of Troy. When she
noticed Sissy was looking at her, she smiled.

“
Are you ready to come
with me?” the lady in white asked.

“
Who are you?” Sissy
asked.

“
I’m the lady in white,”
she said.

“
I see that,” Sissy
said.

“
Are you ready to go?” the
woman asked again.

“
No,” Sissy said. “I’m
waiting for my dad.”

“
Your dad?”

“
Mitchell Delgado,” Sissy
said with a nod. “My dad.”

“
Is he due here?” The
woman’s voice was filled with honest confusion.

“
My brother got beaten up
really bad a couple weeks ago,” Sissy said. “When he was
unconscious, he got to spend a bunch of time with our dad. Like
when he was in surgery and stuff. I’m
unconscious. . .”

Sissy gestured to her body in the bed.

“
I’m waiting for my dad,”
Sissy said.

“
I see,” the lady in white
said. “Your father is expected.”

“
Right,” Sissy said with a
nod. “I’m expecting him.”

“
Well, that’s true,” the
lady in white smiled.

Sissy scowled at the woman and leaned
forward.

“
Do you know why he’s not
here?” Sissy asked.

“
I do not,” the lady in
white said. “I’ve never met your father.”

“
Oh,” Sissy
said.

Sissy looked at Ivan again and smiled. She
was so caught up in looking at Ivan that she forgot all about the
lady in white.

“
He’s very handsome,” the
lady in white said. “He loves you very much.”

Sissy turned to look at her. For a moment,
she couldn’t remember who the lady in white was or why the lady was
there.

“
Who are you again?” Sissy
asked.

“
I’m the lady in white,”
she said.

“
Obviously,” Sissy said
with a roll of her eyes.

“
I’ve come to take
you. . .” the woman said.

“
I’m waiting for my
father,” Sissy said. “Mitch Delgado? Do you know him? Oh, I guess
you said you’d never met him. Just seems like everyone knew my
dad.”

Sissy nodded, and the woman smiled.

“
I will wait as long as
you need,” the woman said.

“
You could help by finding
my father,” Sissy said.

“
Your father can’t come to
you now,” the woman said.

“
My father would walk on
hot coals, over the highest mountains without shoes or clothes
or. . . suffer a lot just to be here with me.” Sissy was
surprised at how angry she felt. “You’re wrong. My father will be
here.”

She gave a hard nod, and the woman gave her
a soft, kind smile. Sissy went back to looking at Ivan and kicking
her legs on the bed. Every once in a while, she noticed the woman
was still waiting for her. Sissy scowled at the woman and went back
to kicking her legs.